Day 9 - Monterey Bay

Today we decided to drive a little further down the coast and see Monterey Bay. Dean wanted to go to Pebble Beach at Monterey Bay and do some golfing, but oh well. We went to the Monterey Aquarium and then walked down Cannery Row to check out some shops. We even walked away without buying anything (except some candy!). The aquarium was awesome. We saw a ton of fish and other sea animals and even got to touch some.

What do you see in there Jarod?

This is my daughter, kissing a sea cucumber. Only Lindsie!!!

Nemo and Dori are in here somewhere!!

This is where we ate lunch. Can't beat that view! We got the last available table and it just happened to be right in the corner by the big windows. The table even came equipped with binoculars for looking out over the ocean. Behind DJ's head you can see some rocks. There were 6 huge seals sunning on the rocks. It was fun to watch them compete with birds for space on the rocks. (The seals won, hands down).

I could sit and watch the jelly fish all day. Something calming about watching them float along. They had a huge jellyfish display from the big ones you see here, to teeny tiny ones that had to be viewed through a magnifying window, to clear ones that you almost couldn't see.

There was also a HUGE tank with sharks and tuna the size of Jarod. We couldn't get any good pictures because the room was dark and the flash just reflected off the glass.

Remember when I said the only thing we bought was some candy? We found this "little" candy store where the kids went nuts. How do you even choose?!?!? Look at DJ's face at this make-your-own-candy machine. Can you guess what he chose? Dean and I love salt water taffy, so we thought that would be a fun treat to buy at the bay. We got in the car and opened it up, only to discover that it was made at Taffy Town . . . . in Salt Lake City!!! We came a long way to buy taffy made 10 minutes from home!

On the way down and back up the coast we stopped at several beaches. The kids just can't get enough of chasing waves in and out of shore. One beach we hit up on the way back had these guys. They were kite surfing (I guess that's what you call it??) There were about 20 of them out there just hanging on these kite thingy's and riding the surf. We sat and watched them for quite awhile. It was cool to watch. They sometimes got some serious air.

Last night and tonight we are staying in a place called Half Moon Bay. It's a cute little town between San Francisco and Monterey. We really like this hotel and wish we were staying longer! But tomorrow it's time to move on. Only a few days left to see everything! Tomorrow we go to Santa Cruz Beach/Boardwalk and then change hotels for the next two nights. We are thinking we will go to Fisherman's Wharf on Saturday (hopefully we can deal with the weekend crowds!) and then on Sunday go see where Daddy grew up before heading towards home. We are having a blast, but getting tired and ready to be back in our own beds!